How to harness ECMWF "Open Data"?

[stef]

Recently ([1]), ECMWF opened access to some of their data. Forecasts are available globally at 0.4 degrees resolution (i.e reduced spatial resolution), in steps of 3h for at least 90 hours. The available fields are listed in [2]. Unfortunately, the list is incomplete for a bulk flux parametrization. For example, there is total accumulated precipitation (from which the precipitation rate could be calculated), but the surface evaporation rate is missing. Radiation, surface relative humidity, etc. is missing too.

The surface fields are:

10u 10 metre U wind component
10v 10 metre V wind component
2t 2 metre temperature
msl Mean sea level pressure
mp2 Mean zero-crossing wave period
mwd Mean wave direction
mwp Mean wave period
pp1d Peak wave period
swh Significant height of combined wind waves and swell
ro Runoff
tp Total Precipitation
sp Surface pressure
st Soil temperature

I'm wondering, is anybody using this data? What could be done with all this free data? I guess most users of this forum would be eligible for ECMWF "research licenses", which would give them free access to the full datatsets, so this may not be relevant to them?

[1] https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-ce ... -available

[2] https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/open-data

[stef]

Apparently they may open enough data for WRF downscaling in 2023:

For open data, the next plan is to open a 'CAMS Support set' in 2023 which contains more parameters - this would be with a view that users could run WRF.

This is their entire answer:

Hi Stefan,

Apologies that the answer was not sufficient; perhaps I can add some more information.

ECMWF is committed to adding more open data as part of its overall Strategy but unfortunately, this can't be done at the speed we and our users might like. One of the challenges we face is that the revenue we currently receive from data sales of high-resolution 'closed' data contributes to a significant portion of the ECMWF operating budget (close to 18%).

This system has existed for almost 20 years, and if we open the data too quickly and significantly reduce this revenue, then our Member and Co-operating States have to contribute more and in difficult times this is very difficult for them to do. We are working to find a balance of increasing the availability of open data, including finding out which are most useful, but also to avoid the pain to our Member States by finding an alternative stable source of income if it remains necessary.

We have recently presented them with a 5-year road map of how much extra they will need to pay each year and if approved, this will allow us to communicate a more solid plan to the public. For open data, the next plan is to open a 'CAMS Support set' in 2023 which contains more parameters - this would be with a view that users could run WRF. This dataset is still subject to approval at our highest governing body, which takes place at the end of June. If approved, the data would be made available in 2023.

In the meantime, I will add the required parameters to our user requirements.

I hope the explanation above provides some context for the challenges we face at the moment (and why we are behind).

Kind regards,

Emma